Harvard Women Top Trinity to Repeat as College Titleists
by David Kingsley PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 2/19/23 -
Harvard University's Marina Stefanoni defeated Trinity College
sophomore Jana Safy (Cairo, Egypt) at the top of the ladder, 11-6,
11-7, 11-9, for the clinching point to lead the Crimson to a 5-4
victory over the Bantams in the College Squash Association (CSA)
National Team Championship (Howe Cup) Finals this afternoon at the
University of Pennsylvania.
Trinity, seeded No. 1 in the tournament, falls just short of a perfect
season at 18-1, while the No. 2-seeded Crimson finish up at 14-1 and
capture their 8th Howe Cup title in a row and 23rd in the
50-year history of the event. Trinity had blanked Yale, 9-0, and
doubled up Virginia, 6-3, on Friday and Saturday to reach today's
finals.
"Harvard came out today with the attitude that weren't going to lose
and that's what I expected from a team that has so much experience
winning this tournament," said Trinity Head Coach Wendy Bartlett. "They
know how to handle the pressure and they know how to pace themselves
through the weekend. They were better than we were today."
Trinity fell behind early despite a steady performance by first-year
Kara Lincou (Le Tampon, Reunion) who earned a 3-1 victory at the No. 8
position over Harvard's Binney Huffman. Lincou took the first
game, 11-6, and recovered from an 11-3 setback in the second to outlast
Huffman in the third, 11-8, and the fourth, 13-11.
Trinity sophomores Malak Moustafa (Alexandria, Egypt) and Lulu Palacios
(Asuncion, Paraguay) both suffered excruciating 3-2 losses in the first
wave to Saran Mghiem at the No. 2 spot and to Brecon Welch at No. 6,
respectively. Moustafa came back from two games down and tied the
score at 4-4 with a 14-12 victory in the fourth game but Mghiem
responded to take the fifth, 11-7, in the longest contest of the day at
57 minutes.
"Kara has been such a tough competitor since she arrived here in
January," said Bartlett. "She works phenomenally hard and we were
confident she would come out and win today."
The second wave was similar to the first and the Bantams trailed, 4-2,
with three matches left to play. Trinity junior Madeleine Hylland
(Baerum, Norway) disposed of Harvard's Evie Coxon, 3-0, in just 18
minutes at the No. 5 position to give the Bantams their second point,
but junior captain Nouran Youssef (Smouha, Egypt) lost, 3-0, at the No.
2 position to Harvard's Habeeba Eldefrawy and Amira Singh handed Bantam
sophomore Janna El Ashmawy (Alexandria, Egypt) her first loss in 30
career college matches to make it 4-2.
Singh and El Ashmawy grinded out three consecutive 13-11 decisions and
El Ashmawy won the fourth game, 11-8, before Singh came out on top in
the clinching fifth game, 12-10.
"Maddy (Hylland) was terrific today," said Bartlett. "She was all
business from the start, had the right strategy to beat her opponent,
and stuck with it beautifully."
Rookie Hannah Chukwu (Tatabanya, Hungary) brought Trinity to within a
single point early in the third wave with a 3-0 triumph at the No. 4
spot over Serena Daniel.
With fellow Trinity first-year Fabiola Cabello (Guadalajara, Mexico)
leading Molly Stoltz, 2-0, at the bottom of the ladder, Safy rallied
from setbacks in her first two games against Stefanoni to take a 6-1
lead in the the third but the Crimson's top player scored 10 of the
next 13 points to clinch it for Harvard.
Cabiola lost her next two games having learned her team's fate but
showed incredible heart and won the fifth to give the Bantams four
points and make it a 5-4 final tally.
"Hannah is so tough we expected nothing less than the great match she
played today," said Bartlett. "Her only loss this year was when
she had to stop playing because of an injury and for her to come out
and play so great today shows her toughness. This experience will
help our young team and we will never want have these feelings again
that we are having right now. I am so proud of what we were able
to accomplish as a group, not only with so many great wins but also how
they stayed together as teammates and pulled for each other right to
the end."
MATCH RESULTS
1. H- Marina Stefanoni d.Jana Safy, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9
2. H- Saran Mghiem d. Malak Moustafa, 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 12-14, 11-7
3. H- Habeeba Eldefrawy d. Nouran Youssef, 11-1, 11-3, 11-4
4. TC- Hannah Chukwu d. Serena Daniel, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9
5. TC- Madeleine Hylland d. Evie Coxon, 11-4, 11-1, 11-6
6. H- Brecon Welch d. Lulu Palacios, 11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3
7. H- Amira Singh d. Janna El Ashmawy, 13-11, 11-13, 13-11, 8-11, 12-10
8. TC- Kara Lincou d. Binney Huffman, 11-6, 3-11, 11-8, 13-11
9. TC- Fabiola Cabello d. Molly Stoltz, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 9-11, 11-6
